


Phoenix Rising

by Lysynda



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Cave of Reflection, Gen, Nightmare Lands, Other, Sisters, Twins, Voss - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 12:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6283978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lysynda/pseuds/Lysynda





	Phoenix Rising

"Are you sure you have to go alone?" Garrace holds his wife's hand as they walk toward the shuttle bay, their children trailing behind them. The small Miraluka readjusts her rather large, but relatively empty rucksack with her other hand. She nods, stopping at the bay door and turning to face him.

"You know I'm never alone." Synda smirks a bit, squeezing his hand. "We have to do this... Dara needs closure, too." She stands on her toes to give him a kiss. "And we both know it's not safe to drink this one away." She turns her head down at her statement apologetically.

She turns to her children and holds her arms out, bending down to give each of them a hug and kiss before she departs. "Be good for Dad." she whispers to each of them as they squeeze her tightly.

"We'll be back before you even have a chance to miss us." she smiles at her family as the door for the shuttle closes.

***

Synda sits quietly meditating in the Voss temple wearing traditional Voss robes. "What are you seeking, little ones?" The voice approaches her from the entrance of the temple and a slight smile crosses her lips. "You mean to tell us you don't already know, Alden-Ka?" Synda breaks her meditation to stand and face him.

He chuckles slightly. "Of course, Lysyndaara, of course." The two old friends walk together out of the temple and stroll through the Voss-ka countryside. "We are torn, mentor. Neither of us can find peace as we are. It is little consolation to us that we are both alive but stuck in this... limbo." Synda sighs, walking slowly beside the rather tall Voss mentor, her hand gripping the stump of the other arm behind her back. "Then you are ready."

Synda stops dead in her tracks. "For what?" He turns to her, having stopped at nearly the same exact moment she did, and rests his hands on her shoulders. In an instant, that are both transported into a Force vision and Synda is immersed in an unfamiliar scene, full of unfamiliar people. "That's your mother, there." He points to a woman in a kneeling position, surrounded by her husband and a midwife. Alden-Ka points again to a new scene - a crying infant now in her mother's arms. "And that is you."

Synda looks at the infant, and to her parents, watching the whole scene unfold. "No, no it can't be. Where's Dara?" He once again points to the infant. "You were always meant to be one, not two." A flash of light surrounds them and suddenly the girl is three, playing by herself in an orphanage on Tattooine. Another flash, and she is graduating from the Jedi Academy with the highest honors. A montage of a different life flies by Synda and Dara as Alden-Ka fades from their awareness. They watch a young, red-haired Jedi rise through the ranks, a leader and highly decorated strategist, savior of countless planets against the scourges of the galaxy, and a fighting force to be reckoned with. They see a white haired woman on her deathbed, at peace with her life and the legacy she is leaving behind.

The realization of it leaves the sisters stunned, shaking like the leaves in the trees above them. She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Alden-Ka knew what she was going to ask. "I don't know, little ones. I would be remiss in my duties as your teacher if I didn't at least try to find answers for you. There are none." He takes a pause before continuing. "When I met you first, I knew right away a part of you was lost. I could sense a change in you when Dara found her way back to your life. And once you two were joined again, I knew with absolute certainty that you were on your way to your truest self. Now you are both ready to grow into that which you were always meant to be."

Yes. Dara speaks to Synda without hesitation, and Synda reciprocates to her mentor. "Yes."

***

The Voss mystic and Miraluka begin their journey with little more than a pack with some rations. He briefed Synda on their task before they left, and she and her sister repeat those steps over and over and over in her head. Synda's anxiety is only calmed by Dara's calm, collected demeanor. They approach the edge of the Nightmare Lands and Alden-Ka finally speaks. "You must calm your spirit, little ones. You know the dangers of this place as well as I do. You cannot enter unbalanced." She nods, and he places his hand on her shoulder, meditating with her. Twenty minutes goes by before he is satisfied the sisters are balanced again, and without words, they both set foot into the corrupted lands.

Their pilgrimage through the Nightmare Lands was quiet and uneventful. They spent no time talking, only focusing themselves and protecting themselves from the corruption surrounding them. For hours they traverse the landscape by foot, reaching the Cave of Reflection just before sundown. "I will go with you, but I cannot help you. You both have to remain balanced and meditate on the power within this cave. Only with that, can you become who you were meant to be."

The sisters lead the way into the cave, reflecting on what could very well be their last moments as two separate, sentient consciousnesses. They remain mindful, however, and reach the reflecting pool at the back of the cave with little incident. The Voss mentor stays back while the sisters prepare.

***

Black. Even with no frame of reference of sight or color, there was no other way to describe where the sisters found themselves. Just, black. No light, no dark, nothing in between. Just the two sisters, surrounded by black. This what it's like when you find your way into the deepest recesses of your mind. Black. This is where the sisters are to become what they were always meant to be.

In the quiet nothingness, it's easy for them to find one another. No distractions, just black. In this place, their force bond is the strongest. Synda's apparition is magnetic to Dara's, and the two, even without being physically there, circle one another. One as yin, one as yang, they spiral, uncontrollably, toward each other.

And in the center, they meet. From the collision arises what only can be described as a flame. A ball of fire that seems to consume what exists of each of the sisters, melting them together into each other. And then the flame is gone, and once again, only black. Nothing. No flame, no apparitions of the sister's identities, just black.

***

Alden-Ka sits behind the petite and lifeless Mirakluka calmly. He lays her to the ground watching over her. No breath, no heartbeat. He remains calm. No pulse, no motion. He remains calm.

***

Black. The burnt remains of the sisters, also black.

But then, a spark. And another. And more that follow. And suddenly, the brightest flash of white that could ever be imagined. And then once more, black.

***

Just before the sun rises over the Nightmare Lands, at the darkest point of the night, Synda's lifeless lungs breath once more, color returns to her cheeks, the fingers on her left hand feel the cool dirt beneath her. She raises her arms up, stretching as though she were waking from a winter's long hibernation. She yawns and pushes herself up into a seated position.

"How do you feel, little one?" The wise mentor smiles as she wakes, relieved.

"We feel..." She stops at the realization of what she said and what just happened. "I feel... complete."


End file.
